Explosion-engine.



T. T.` GAFI'.

.EXPLOSION ENGINE. APPLIOATION FILED JAN. 4, 1910.

Patented Apr. 22, 1913.

3 BHEETSnEIIEET 1.

T. T. GAFI?.

EXPLOSION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 4, 1910. 1,059,604, y Patented Apr. 22, 1913.

a sums-SHEET z.

@WW1/woz @Hof/uma T. T. GAF?.

EXPLOSION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 4, 1910.

' Patented Apr. 22, 1913.

therefore, have to be capable of making up 'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS T. GAFF, 0F WASHINGTON, DISTRICT O F COLUMBIA.

EXPLOSION-ENGINE.

plosion enginel in which air only is` first' introduced into the combustion chamber,

v and, then, into'the otherwise'closed chamber, a suitable quantity of combustible is injected. That this method of charging the explosion or combustion chamber--thecylinder of the engine-may be practised with advantage, it is desirable that the period of injection should terminate only shortlybefore the instant of ignition-that is to say, tow-ard the end of the compression stroke of the piston, when the air in Lthe cylinder/is under high pressure; and the means of injection must provide for a constantly recurring delivery;y into the cylinder at this time, under apressure higher than the cylinder pressure, of a definite though very minute quantityof the combustible, which quantity must not vary except at the will of the operato'r. To maintain proper delivery pressure under these conditions some form of force pump for a fluid combustible is necessary. Here a diiiiculty arises, more particularly in -the case `of those y'engines composed Vof a number of small cylinders operating at high Speeds. aeroplanes, etcn- If each cylinder of the mult-icylinderengine be 'fitted with its indiand if the pump be made of a pressures it must, engender, it reaches such Va size that its smallest stroke delivers more combustible than can be consumed in the cylinder'into which it is feeding. If on the other hand the size of the pump` be so reduced as to permit it to deliver atany one stroke only so much combustible as the cylinder into which it is.- feeding can consume, this very smallness of the pump and its parts renders them' so fragile, or diincult of constant reliable operation, .or both, that it cannot properly' serve its pur ose. These diiculties are greatly magnie by the very high frequency of delivery required. A two cycle engine has yajrange of speed ofi-froml about 200 to 1200 revolutions per minute, and, at each revolution, it must be Isupplied with combustible. A single acting pump would,

` Specification of Letters Patent.

-such/asjare used on automobiles,f

Athe same type fitted. with more Patented Apr.` 22d, 1913.

, Application illed January 4, 1910. Serial'No. 536,294.

to 1200 strokes pei` minute; a double acting pump half that number; If 'it be attempted to use a single pump for all a multicylinder englne of this type, the difficulty increases in proportion with the number of cylinders. A single acting pump the cylinders of under these conditions would have to be capable of making from 800 to 2800 strokes per minute.

avoid this prime diiliculty. To that end I make use, in connectionwith a force pump, of an accumulator, fitted with aby-pass, and carrying a constant pressure against a valve interposed between the accumulator and the engine, which valve is so` constructed and combined with means for periodically operating it as to admit at any desired time any desired quantity of the combustible from the Aaccumulator into the cylinder of the engine,

at any necessary pressure. In this way the difficulty I have tirely overcome.I size as to insure adequate strength. Any excess of fluid pumped by it, instead of going to the cylinder, is returnedfthrough the by-pass of the accumulator mediately or immediately to the pump, while the amount of combustible admitted to the c linderis governed by a valve 'which 'is e ective to control the injection of minute quantities under considerable pressure, 'and responds quickly and accurately tothe influence of the operating agencies employed in 4connection with-it for this purpose. v This, and' other features of my invention, will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings.

In said drawin -Figure 1 is aside elevationlargely diagrammatic `and divested of structural detailof a single cylinder ex.- plo-sion engine,of the type known las two cycle or two stroke cycle., iitted with devices embodying my invention in simple form. The accumulator is. shown in section. Fig. 2 is a like view of ya multi-cylinder engine of elaborate devices .embodying my invention. Fig. 3 is an` axial section through the electro-magnetic valve and its casing interposed between It 1s one of the objects of my invent-ion `to` above referred to is en- The pump can be of suchf the accumulator and the c linder. Figs. 4, A

5,'6, 7, are views representlng the structural details of the device, whereby the action lof vthe electro-magnetic valve is controlled.

il@ lt is designed for asix cylinderengine, and

for this purpose has six insulated contacts on the interior of its shell. But the principle of its action is the same whether one, two or more contacts are employed, the num- 5 ber of contacts depending upon 'the .number of cylinders the engine has.

Conining attention for the present to Fig. l-A is the cylinder of a two cycle engine having the usual water pump W for circulating cooling water. B is an accumu- -lator having an internal head b backed by a spring which resists the tendency of the entering fluid to force back the head b. 'C is the force pump by which the combustible luid is forced into' the accumulator through connection c, compressing the spring b until the fluid in the accumulator has attained the desired degree of pressure (which of course should be suliicient to overcome the pressure in the engine cylinder A). The accumulator is ittedwith a by-pass H, which returns directly to the f pump C, as shown. The pump is driven by any suitable means from the engine. l

have here shown it driven by worm and gear X Y direct from the'crank shaft of the engine the gear Y having a crank pin on it, connected by anV intermediate connecting rod-'y to the piston rod i of the pump. A

4o pipe g leads from the accumulator to the engine cylinder, the inlet of said pipe into the cylinder being controlled by avalve Gr-in this instance an electro-magnetically.

operated valve. E is an ordinary ignition timer to control the sparkit being mounted,as usual, upon a vertical shaft l, driven from the crank shaft of the-engine by suitable means, as 'by' bevel gearing as shown. rlhis spark timer is of any usual construc- 5o tion, and being well known to those skilled in the art I have omitted its structural details as well as its 'battery' and spark plug connections. D is the timer to operate the valve Gr; it also is mounted on the shaft I. .F isa battery connected on the one hand to the timer D and on the other hand to the electro-magnetic' controller of valve Gr-the circuit-being from one poleA of battery to-D,

thence to ground, thence to G and thence i 6.0 to opposite pole of battery.A A manually operated switch s is'inter'posed at a suitable point inthe circuit. l There is the same general arrangementof parts in the two cylinder engine in Fig. 2,

,6,5 and'the parts there Aare identified by the tery F.

The procedure is as -followsz lEither byv turning over the engine, or otherwise, the pump C, which is connected with any suitable source of Huid combustible supply,

operated until the desired pressure is reached' in the accumulato-r B, the switch s at this time bein'g open, and the valve G in consequence, remaining closed, although its chamber is now charged with fluid ataccumulator pressure. Now, closing the switch s, and turning the engine over, the timerv D, at the proper moment, completes the bat` -tery circuit, the electro-magnet of vvalve G is energized and causes the valve to open, and the desired amount of fluid combustible is injected Ainto the engine cylinder. tinuing to turn the engine, the battery circuit at the point controlled-by the 'timer is broken, the valve G closes, and then, the ignition circuit (not shown in Fig. l) be'- ing established through the :ignition or spark timer 'E, the point of ignition is reached and the charge is tired, from which time the procedure goes on automaticall As before stated, in Fig.l l, l have indicated ythe ignition apparatus-by a spark timer E. ln Fig. 2 it is indicated additionally by the ignition plugs P P', and by circuit connections, having induction coils, the primary coils of which arel in a battery circuit including the contacts of the spark timer E (which are arranged very much as the contacts of the valve timer D) and the secondary coils of which are each in a derivedor high tension circuit, including its vappropriate spark plug l? or'P, as' will. be understood without further explanation. lt will of course be understood that instead of a high tension ignition' system, the low tension system can be employed, the valve timer D being suitably connected to the spark timer of-that system. The valve timer D, as shown in Figs. 4 7, iscomposed ofan outer metallic cylindrical shell or case l having an insulatinglining 2, in which` are embedded metalliccontact strips finithis instance six in numberv equally spaced apart and each electrically connected to its own binding post 4 on the exterior of the case. The. case rests on a suitable support S, and is centered upon the shaft I which passes 'axially through 'i'ts top and bottom with. a sliding lfit, the `case Con- ' the timer,

contactI of an)7 ordinary or suitable typeg.

indicated by dotted lines at 7 Fig. 4, and also at 7', Fig. 5, wherein only the inner end of said contact a pears. Upon-the sleeve 6 is a contact w ich bears with yielding pressure'against the lining 2 and, during the revolution of the sleeve 6 with the shaft I on which it is mounted, makes contact with` the successive contact strips 3 embedded in said lining. The yielding pressure contact consists in the present instance of a thin metallic roller 8, Fig. 5, mounted on the free contact roller 8,

' portion of the strip the roller meets.

case 1 is raised av narrower portion of the' strip is brought opposite the .roller and con-- the two meet at a time propor-A end of an arm 9 which is hinged at its other end to the sleeve 6 and is outwardly pressed by a'spring 10, so as tohold the roller in- 4ylelding contact withl the interior of the case.

The contact strips 3 are wedge shaped, large end uppermost, 'with one vertical edge and one inclined edge, and they 'are so 'posi,

tioned relatively to the diretion of movement of the contact roller 8 (which revolves with shaft I in the direction of the arrow,

Fig; 5)y that the roller meets each strip at` its inclined edge and quits it at its vertical edge. By reason of this arrangement the lalways leaves each strip 3 at the same predetermined instant in each revolution, but the time of its meeting the strip is variable and dependent upon what If the sequently tionately later, broader part of the roller, and consequently the duration of than they would if the contact between the parts is correspondingly abbreviatedthe lengtlof duration ofzcontact determining the duration of the opening period of the injection valve and conse-y quently the quantity 'of fluid combustible injected into the engine cylinder'.

The sleeve 6 is adjustable rotatably upon the insulating band 5, and lis tixed in its adjusted position by set screw' 11 or other suitable means. It is made thus adjustable t0v determine the relation' .which injection should bear to sparking,

able-with reference to the spark timer E, so as to'operate the injectiony Valve at such in- `on the top the strip were presented to sure,

that is to say to d etermine the time which should intervene between the injection ofthe combustible and 4the sparking. -For thispurpose it is adjust terval of time before the sparking takes' place as may be. desired. But when once thus adjusted, Vthis predetermined relation of the valve timer and spark timexl must be maintained. To this end the valve timerv and spark timer are so interconnected that any rotary movement of the shell `or case of the one will cause a corresponding movement of the other.A This interconnection may be effected in' any suitable wa As a" fix very convenient means for the purpose tical rods 12 to diametrically oppositely lo-- cated lugs 18 on'the exterior of the case 1 of the valve timer which pass down 'with an easy sliding fit througli corresponding lugs 14 on 'the spark timer below. In this way when vthe ,case of the spark timer is revolved more or less to advance so y or retard the j spark, the easel of the valve timer will partake of this movement, without however `1ntertering with its capacity to move up and.

down independently of the spark timer. l

' The up and down movementof the case j of the valve timer can be effected by hand, as forl example by a lever `14 plvoted to a standard attached to the support S (Figs. 2

and 4) and provided with a semicircular yoke 15, armed ,at its outer endswith pms 16- which project into anannular groove 17 on the case. `Or th's movement may be efected automatically, as by a ball governor 17 (Fig. 4) mounted on the revolving shaft I, andhaving its arms connected to a collar of the case 1, as seen in lFig..4.

,As the speed of the engine increases and Ashaft I revolves more rapidly,l the case 1 of the valve timer will be lifted, with t-heeffeet of correspondingly shortening the dura tion of contact between the roller. 8 and suc- 'cessive contact strips 3.

I remark here that in practice the operating handles of the valve and spark timers, as well as the switches s willvall be grouped at the central point of control where they will be within convenient reach of the operator. v A

The electro-magneticvalve G consists of aI fluid tight case 18 in which lis housed'securely a solenoid,`,the coil 19 of which is properly connected by terminals, with the outsidecircuit controlled by the valve timer D'.V At one end of the case Gr is a chambery23 which communicates with the accumulator B. so as to'be constantly lled with the fiuid `combustible at accumulator presand has anoutlet 24 into the engine cylinder 'controlled bythe cone' valve 22 on solenoid,- the core bein ydivided* interV two parts between which is interposed a spring --the lower end of the divided core 20 of the 21 which tends to hold the valve 22`down 1n its seat so as to' close the opening 24. When the circuit through the solenoid yis closed' the lower jmovable portion of-the core isdrawn up into the core-against Athe stress of theA spring 21', thus opening the valve.

-The extent of lift oi." Athe valve, and consequently the size of the 4valve opening can be regulated `by a nut. 25 which is micrometrically adjustable on the screw threaded valve stem, and is held in adjusted position by lock nut .26*this nut bringing up sooner or later against the head of the solenoidcoil, according to its adjustment on the stem. rllhis provision 'for adjustment of the size ot the opening'of the valve while leaving the time of its opening undisturbed, enables the feeding, in a multicylinder engine,

ot `differing quantities of combustible to diierent cylinders and maintaining this' difference through any variation in the rate of total supply.

lt is desirable to introduce between the accumulator and the injection valves a iilter as indicated at 27, Fig. 2; Auto- -matically operating check valves are also introduced at convenient points in the piping systems as indicated diagrammatically -at v in Figs. l and 2.

Hand switches s s `.may be used to suspend or restore the electricalcuri'ent to any given injection valve in a multicylinder engl'nefthus cutting out and restoring at will the cylinder to which that valve pertains.

. lln lieu of'electro-magnetic inject-ion valves g Y can use mechanically operated valves, get- #ting their `periodical opening and closing movement om some moving part of the `engine through a suitable system of cams and connecting rods. l prefer, however, the` electro-magnetically 'operated valves. For the sake of clearness l ha.e represented the valve timer as included in a 'circuit having its own separate, battery. But it'will of course'be understood'that the same battery can be used for both the valve timer circuit and the usual spark timer circuit.

Having described my improvements and the best way now known to me of carrying the same into eect what l claim herein as new and of my own invention is as follows:

cylinder, aforce pump driven from the engine, an accumulator to receive the Huid combustible from the pump', adapted to maintain a constant pressure of the combustible greater than the cylinder pressure, a by-pass for returning from the accumulator to the pump the excess of fluid, a passage from the accumulator to the cylinder, and a valve interposed in said passage, of .means automatically variable to open said valve sooner or later during each cycle of movement, and mea-ns for automatically closing said valve at the same instant of time in each cycle, irrespective ot variations in the time of opening the valve, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefo're set forth.

2. ln an explosion engine 4of the type herein specified, the combination with the engine cylinder and sparking devices, including means for advancing and retarding the spark, of devices for injecting the combustible into the engine cylinder, including means adjustable independently of the sparking devices for completing theinjection of the combustible at an instantZo time instantof sparking, and connections be- 'tween the said injecting and sparking devices whereby said relation shall be maintained unchanged by any advance or retardingA oiiltlie"spark, substantially as and for thecjfbtiposes hereinbefore set forth.

iin testimony whereof l ax my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' THOMAS T. @AFE `Witnessesz WM. J. NEALE,

W. LEE HnLMs.

l. ln an explosion engine of the type specified, 4the combination with the engine which shall bear any desired relation tothe 

